There was a lot of France, in the concert From America and France by Isabelle Boulay presented Saturday at the Francos. We talk about the repertoire, but also about the way. But this show was above all an opportunity to see how Bashung’s songs transform a performer who we thought we knew everything.
Something happened when, after performing a dozen of the sentimental songs that made her famous, Isabelle Boulay sang Ma petite entreprise, a song by the unclassifiable poet-crooner-cowboy-rocker Alain Bashung. Suddenly, the playing of his musicians became more nervous and the pulsations became more sly. The singer herself literally transformed before our eyes, abandoning the restraint to which she had been confined until then to move in a more inhabited, more carnal way.
It wasn’t just temporary. As if Isabelle Boulay, who has just devoted a very successful album to the songs of Bashung, was freeing herself in contact with this shrewd rock tinged with country. It was stunning during Madame rêve, a piece swollen with erotic overtones, which she delivered with a hazy, almost theatrical elegance, as her five musicians delicately weaved a strange and sensual soundscape. It was also great during Osez Joséphine, I pass for a caravan and I missed you, delivered with aplomb and a perfect mastery of the text. Which is no small thing when we talk about Bashung’s puzzling poetry.
It was almost a moment of grace, even more embodied than on record, which makes you want to say that if Isabelle Boulay dared to continue on this path, the “great peril” (those are her words) of rubbing shoulders with Bashung could mark a turning point. in his already long and successful career.
The other show we saw is the side of the singer we know: the one who loves sad songs, who makes them with her deep and warm voice, waves full of the soul, but with a restraint that also naturally imposes itself on its five musicians. Hence the contrast between the tense playing of the Bashung portion and the classic, timidly folk-rock arrangements of his great hits such as Je t’oublierai, Et mon cœur en prize la gueule, Parle-moi or this very beautiful song written by Benjamin Biolay, Don’t tell me you have to smile.
We had to leave the room when the singer presented her musicians: Philippe Marcotte (keyboard and musical direction), Jocelyn Tellier (guitar), Olivier Laroche (guitar), Alex Kirouac (drums) and Frédéric Beauséjour (bass and double bass). Isabelle Boulay would then sing Between Matane and Baton Rouge, a very beautiful song written for her by Michel Rivard. The tension had gone down a notch, but it was still with the image of a new Isabelle Boulay that we left the Théâtre Maisonneuve. Hoping to see her more often, that one.
On Mitshuap, his album released earlier this spring, Kanen already left a very strong impression. Dare: on stage, the young Innu singer-songwriter is a revelation. She has not only shown a joyful naturalness in the way she occupies the space, she has above all a remarkable quality of presence, which makes the emotion pass directly between her and her audience. Chills were not uncommon during the hour she spent on stage delivering her often raw rock, but also marked by an amazing work of atmosphere produced by her four accompanists, including guitarist and keyboardist Jérémie Essiambre and bassist Agathe Dupéré. Just give him a little time and the opportunity to perform often and Kanen, a young artist with a strong temperament, will become a key figure in Indigenous music here and in Quebec rock.
At the very beginning of the evening, we stopped at the concert of Lilison di Kinara, which has long been rare in our latitudes, with the hope of reconnecting with the magic of Bambatulu, her very beautiful album from 1999. The show had a little difficult to take off – the sound system was not optimal, public side -, but after a quarter of an hour, his group and he installed a languid groove, on which the Bissau-Guinean singer raised his voice high, sometimes whispering. Lilison was surrounded by five musicians, including Bruno Rouyère and Jean-Marc Hébert on guitars and Daniel Bellegarde on percussion. It was not the expected reunion, but it was sufficiently enveloping to hope for something new from this singer who marked the mixed music made in Quebec at the turn of the millennium.
